Page 29 - Simply Vegetables Winter 2021/22

apricots flower many insects are still not flying and therefore little natural pollination occurs. Traditionally a rabbit’s tail (!) is used but I prefer to suggest a small, soft artist’s brush which is simply used to lightly touch all of the flowers when the pollen is running, and this is usually considered to be around midday. Undertake
this hand pollination every day until flowering is over. Of course, if you are in colder parts and growing under glass or polythene the only pollination available will be by hand and so it is vital that you undertake the task as I have described.
If you are lucky enough to have an apricot tree that sets a good crop you are going to have to thin or you will get a crop of small fruits or even worse, they may all drop off the tree! I suggest that you thin in two stages, the first
of these being when the fruitlets are
a little larger than a pea. At this stage thin to around 1 inch (25mm) apart - you may also get a little natural fruit drop at this time as well. The second stage for thinning is when the fruitlets are around the size of a hazelnut. Thin at this stage to around 2 to 3 inches (50-75mm) apart and leave only single fruits.
Feeding the trees on a yearly basis will help build up the trees and I use a large handful of blood, fish and bone every February and well pricked into
the soil. Watering may be necessary in dry seasons - particularly in fans grown against a wall where it can be very dry.
Make sure that you let the fruits ripen on the tree as they will not develop any further flavour when picked which means that prematurely picked fruits will never develop their true “apricot” flavour. When picking do not allow the stalks to pull away from the fruit as this can cause rapid decay.
There are a reasonable number of apricot cultivars now available but only a few are really suitable for growing in gardens. Some of the modern cultivars are –
Flavorcot is considered to be fairly reliable, and it does have some frost tolerance. The fruits are juicy, orange- red and ripening in late summer
Goldcot is very hardy, and the fruits are medium to large, golden yellow with quite a thick skin, making them ideal for storage in the fridge for at time
Tomcot is considered to be reliable in cool climates and crops early in mid-summer, producing large, orange fruits with a crimson blush
Some of the “older” cultivars can do very well in the garden or allotment and should be considered. Indeed, I grow the cultivar Moorpark which is perhaps the best known of the “older” apricots and probably the most widely planted apricot at the present time and rightly so because it has an excellent flavour. The fruit can be quite
large and round, yellowish in colour with a brownish red flush. When grown in good sunlight the fruits can look very attractive indeed. The flesh is yellow/orange and
is juicy, sweet and rich. It is a fairly late cropping apricot often not ripening until late
August. Well worth growing!
Alfred is another fairly well-known
cultivar and is a little less prone to dieback than some other apricot cultivars. The fruits are a little
smaller than Moorpark but this is compensated by its outstanding flavour which is particularly well developed
in the warmest seasons. The fruits are fairly orange in colour - more like the traditional apricot colour - and they often develop a reddish flush. This cultivar ripens fairly early - usually around late July/early August.
New Large Early is less well known but well worth growing for its early ripening - often from early July onwards in the warmest parts of the country. The fruits are large and the quality is very good considering its early season. The fruits tend to be oval and the colour could be described
as pale apricot. The flesh is orange/ yellow and is very soft and juicy. This cultivar unfortunately will not really store so the fruits are best eaten direct from the tree - not a real hardship considering its flavour!
I hope that I have managed to persuade you to give up a little more space in your garden for another type of fruit tree and if you are successful, you will become a very popular person indeed!
Simply Vegetables 29